EPTI took a look at the 2026 earnings of South Korean StarCraft: Brood War players on Liquipedia, and it’s truly astonishing.
Winnings/2026 The total earnings recorded so far this year have reached $3.2 million, surpassing last year’s full-year total of $3 million and setting a new multi-year record.
Moreover, the vast majority of these earnings come from "Proleague Format" events. The income gap between players who frequently participate in Proleague Format" events and those who do not is enormous.
For example, RoyaL, who only reached the Round of 16 in ASL over the past two years, has already earned $209,479 in 2026 alone, setting a single-year individual earnings record since the inception of StarCraft: Brood War tournament tracking in 1999.
In contrast, Soulkey, the newly crowned champion of ASL Season 22, currently fails to even crack the top ten.
Meanwhile, players with comparatively weaker individual skills but who regularly compete in "Proleague Format" events—such as ggaemo, Motive, BTS, Movie, Tyson, soO, Mind, and kOp—have all surpassed Mihu, the highest-earning foreign player to date.
Notably, both soO and BTS (TRUE) are long-time champions in StarCraft II. Having largely abstained from StarCraft: Brood War for over a decade, they formally returned to compete in Brood War "Proleague Format" events during 2024–2025.
BTS earned $98,268 in 2025 and an additional $46,389 in 2026 so far. SoO, meanwhile, made $28,047 in 2025 and $35,772 in 2026 thus far.
